Match thread from St. James Park (Exeter City)

OK like some others I have parked last nights result - despite the good first half showing we still aren't aggressive enough across the whole pitch and for 90 minutes to grind out results from these sort of games. That has to change if Dales misquoted comment about it being easier to get out of League 2 doesn't comes back to bite him on the proverbial !!

I desperately want us to stay in L2 and we have 16 games to achieve this goal.Realistically we probably wont get anything from games against Luton, Notts County, Coventry, Mansfield, Accrington and Newport - all pushing hard for promotion.That leaves 10 other games against Barnet, Chesterfield, Crewe, Morecambe, Yeovil, Grimsby, Cheltenham, Stevenage, Crawley & Colchester. Of these 5 are at home and 5 away.I reckon we will need in excess of 42 points to survive so that means at least 5 wins and a draw or two from those 10 games. Anything from the other 6 would be a real bonus.It really is crunch time now. 10 new players in. A "new" team almost compared with pre-January. Some big questions and a cup final every week from now until May.COYR !!!

Oggys right boot wrote:Old Tom Cat - yes we need one more win than Barnet or chesterfield. One of them will pick up form - believe me. We will need +20 points to survive...are there enough games against the lower teams to get that?

My argument if firm whatever these other two teams achieve.Remember all three of us and a few others are having a poor season and most will continue having poor results till end of season. Whether FGR need another 20 pts or even three to avoid relegation remains to be seen.

Oggys right boot wrote:Old Tom Cat - yes we need one more win than Barnet or chesterfield. One of them will pick up form - believe me. We will need +20 points to survive...are there enough games against the lower teams to get that?

My argument if firm whatever these other two teams achieve.Remember all three of us and a few others are having a poor season and most will continue having poor results till end of season. Whether FGR need another 20 pts or even three to avoid relegation remains to be seen.

I think I saw both Chesterfield and Barnet added to their squads before 11 last night, and I think with players from clubs higher up the structure.....

FGR-Ledge wrote:If Doidge and Stevens are sold, that would be absolutely criminal!!!!!!!

We would be absolutely certain to go down then.

Let's be fair, Jordan Stevens looks to be a very promising player, but he has not played enough to be a factor in us staying up or going down, plus was unlikely to play regularly for the rest of the season.

Good luck to the young man though, hope to see a few more coming through our youth system in the next few years with that sort of potential.

FootieMan wrote:Calm down everyone. After the last three defeats AWAY it is disappointing not to have scored a goal. But tonight look at the opposition, who if they win their two matches in hand would be second in the table only three points behind leaders Luton.

I said previously and will repeat it again, the matches the club MUST target to win are those against the teams in the bottom 8 of the division. Take points off those in and around you and you will be safe. Those games are still to come and mostly at home.

I like many who have followed the club over the years have been there before. Continually slagging off the players and management will just give you high blood pressure. Walk away from your computer for a day and save yourself all the hassle. Sensible analysis is more therapeutic even if you do not realise it at the time.

Comments without basis are no use either

Agreed.

There is an awful lot of vitriol flying around tonight and some foolish comments being made IMHO. It is nice to see that a few forum users are still able to evaluate rationally.

I'm mad as hell too, don't get me wrong. But some of the insults and jibes on here are infantile and I hope some posters will reflect on them later. It is all too easy to post these things in haste following the emotion of another defeat.

The ONLY thing we as fans can CONSTRUCTIVELY do is SUPPORT THE TEAM and hope that we can scrape together enough points to stay up. For crying out loud, it's like we have never been in a relegation scrap before - it used to be an annual event! Whether we like or rate the Chairman, the Manager, the Players, the Tea Lady.....there are 16 games to go. We are probably going to need 20 more points to stay up. Turn up on Saturday. SUPPORT THE TEAM. It's the one positive thing we can do.

Following a five hundred mile round trip for nowt on Saturday Forest Green Rovers players and supporters will be looking for a more positive outcome after chalking up another two hundred to take on Exeter City.The Rovers 2018 team is the one that holds the clubs destiny. Events will unfold rapidly,tonight's game the first of six in twenty five days. Time to step up.All but full the Kendo express headed south by the light of a blue blood moon.St Anne's Well provided an excellent pre-match ale or two prior to the short walk to the away end of St James Park on a cold winters evening.No surprises in the starting eleven Wishart keeping Brown on the bench alongside Cooper back from an enforced break.There is no question that Rovers began the game well looking lively in possession.Surviving an early Exeter free kick which saw Sweeney head the ball narrowly wide of the near post they pressed their opponents into their own half for long periods.Grubb and Osbourne working hard to find an opening created one for Wishart on eighteen minutes.Grubb put the ball in his path as he raced in from the left inside the area. His low shot across keeper Pym went just the wrong side of the right hand post.The reply very soon after from Exeter had an identical ending when Holmes left Hollis for dead and hit the ball wide across Collins.Rovers continued to press and just before the half hour mark Grubb brought a diving save from Pym at his near post.Reid and Doidge were frustrated by the well organised Exeter defence who offered them no room to work an opening.As half time approached Exeter won their first corner from which Rovers broke away and won two of their own at the other end but were unable to make the breakthrough.Bovril sales were high at the interval as the air chilled the bone.Paul Tisdale the Exeter City manager illustrated his worth during the interval when he paved the way for his team to nullify Rovers threat and win the game.The key was his substitution of Edwards who replaced Harley for the start of the second half.He was quick and all over the Rovers back line like a rash. It was a different game.Forcing Rovers onto the back foot in the opening five minutes they succumbed after 51mins committing the cardinal sin of switching off after conceding a free kick on the left flank.It was quickly taken and Edwards darted to the byline and hit the ball low across across the face of goal and Stockley was on hand to crash the ball into the back of the net past the exposed Collins from point blank range. The blink of an eye and Rovers were floored.Minutes later Taylor almost doubled the score but his fierce shot was wide.Rovers tried in vain to to rescue the situation but as Grubb,Wishart and Bennett reached the final third they failed to provide the crosses that Reid and Doidge were desperate for. Credit must be given to the home defence.Exeter well on top sealed the game just before the hour mark with a second goal.Edwards worked his way into the box and drew a foul from Bennett.Sweeney stepped up and blasted the ball into the roof of the net.Laird replaced Hollis for Rovers immediately. It made little difference as Exeter dominated racking up the corners.Rovers defence were clearing the ball aimlessly and frustrations began to show around seventy minutes when both Lee Collins and Gunning were booked for desperate challenges.When Campbell replaced Doidge on seventy two minutes it seemed to the fans at least,who incidentally were not best pleased by now,like the white flag being raised.Rovers showed some spirit in the final ten minutes winning a couple of corners but Exeter saw the game out untroubled.It was a disappointing night for Forest Green Rovers who flattered to deceive after the first forty five minutes. Cooper will have to gear his troops up for another tough game against Coventry on Saturday. However unlikely it is not impossible for them to beat them for a second time.For FGR to be actually relegated is a much rarer event than a blue blood moon so keep the faith all you wrist slashers out there.

So MC gets half way through the second half and gives up. Puts his best toy back in the cupboard, leaving the rest to run around aimlessly. Never mind the fans who paid so much to see the team, never mind the people at home who paid to listen. That's not the attitude of a winner. The excuse that he's saving him for Saturday is mad. Just 30 minutes extra running. Also, I think that Exeter are far more likely to be beaten or even draw against, where Coventry is going to be so tough to even get a point against.

The whole plan has so many holes in. Kicking it around midfield for aeons to try to draw the opposition out of their box is not working at this level. All they do is stay deep, until we've moved our players so far forward that they're racing to get back when the inevitable break happens. It just gives them the opportunity to keep their players in the box to thwart our attempts.

When our new players arrived, they played the only way that they know and were successful at it. Now it's just become the same old MC style, new players and the same result.

The lack of action at the front means that the defence gets more tetchy and we make ridiculous errors and concede goals, especially at set pieces. Talking of which we just can't convert set pieces. We get a free kick and there's no expectation that it will lead to a goal. When was the last time we scored from a corner?

It's great to say that we should beat the teams around us, but we haven't exactly done well against them so far, so I don't have great expectations for the future. I'm not particularly excited about Saturday, if we go behind, will MC just give up again? No wonder the team gives up with those signals.

As for the "well we're stuck with them, so we should support them" comments, of course I support the team, I'll be there shouting loud and proud for them. Can't say the same for the manager though.

Best thing they can do with Jordan Steven's money is to pay off the manager and get someone who can inspire the team to get the ball forward and win, we've got the players after all.

voodoobluesman wrote:It's great to say that we should beat the teams around us, but we haven't exactly done well against them so far, so I don't have great expectations for the future. I'm not particularly excited about Saturday, if we go behind, will MC just give up again? No wonder the team gives up with those signals.

Interesting couple of facts to counter some of that.

Firstly our record against teams around us, and I would include everyone up to Stevenage in that as anyone above that are surely safe, reads:p12 w6 d2 l4, which works out as 20 points. That stacks up favourably against a lot of the other battlers, and we still have 8 more of these games to play.

If our average against these sort of teams continues, that would give us 14 more points, taking our tally to 40. We would then probably need to be looking to pick up another 6-8 points from the other 8 games, which is feasable imo.

Secondly, ahead of the original away game at Exeter I saw an interesting stat that up until that game, we had actually picked up more points from losing positions then anyone else in league 2, and since then came from behind twice to beat Cambridge less then 2 weeks ago. So to say we give up easily would be unfair I think.

Things aren't great atm and I understand why people aren't happy, but some perspective is needed. We still have a very good chance of staying up.

Cambridge home game was a great game, but my fear is that we had the new players as raw recruits playing the best way they knew, whereas now, I fear that their natural instincts are being "trained" out of them with the style that the current manager likes to play.

Also yes, this season I've seen some really spirited performances by the team, with a real never-say-die attitude. Again my fear is that with signals that they get from the current manager (giving up the game halfway through the second half) it will have an effect on their resilience and attitude. Perhaps if the manager gave a real "come on lads, let's really go for it, as we know we can" signal to the team, he may have lifted the performance and might just have got the draw. These things can and have happened before.

Slept before posting but I'm still livid from last night, in the first half we matched Exeter all half second half they bring a pacey winger on and he destroys us. We were woeful. I think we caught port Vale and Cambridge on bad days so the results flattered us, we're going down at this rate, Swindon, Carlisle and Exeter all bad performances and definitely can't see us getting anything from Coventry.

Also looked like Cooper fell out with hollis last night so now that's Robert, Roberts, Manny, drissa, Rob sinclair, mullings, wedgbury, frear, Murphy, kmb and probably more how much are these petty disagreements going to cost our club?? Cooper needs to go as he's turning this club into a very sour environment and fans keep arguing with each other which isn't nice to see. Please make the sensible choice Dale.

voodoobluesman wrote:It's great to say that we should beat the teams around us, but we haven't exactly done well against them so far, so I don't have great expectations for the future. I'm not particularly excited about Saturday, if we go behind, will MC just give up again? No wonder the team gives up with those signals.

Interesting couple of facts to counter some of that.

Firstly our record against teams around us, and I would include everyone up to Stevenage in that as anyone above that are surely safe, reads:p12 w6 d2 l4, which works out as 20 points. That stacks up favourably against a lot of the other battlers, and we still have 8 more of these games to play.

If our average against these sort of teams continues, that would give us 14 more points, taking our tally to 40. We would then probably need to be looking to pick up another 6-8 points from the other 8 games, which is feasable imo.

Secondly, ahead of the original away game at Exeter I saw an interesting stat that up until that game, we had actually picked up more points from losing positions then anyone else in league 2, and since then came from behind twice to beat Cambridge less then 2 weeks ago. So to say we give up easily would be unfair I think.

Things aren't great atm and I understand why people aren't happy, but some perspective is needed. We still have a very good chance of staying up.

This is helpful - a few facts always are. I worry about those extra 6-8 points but maybe we don't need them. As Candy says: "Finish above Barnet & Chesterfield to stay up this season". It would be nice to have it in our hands but we are at a point where we have to rely on the failure of others too.

Unfortunately, i think you will be right in your last paragraph at 4.55 tomorrow night Tommo, but as of this evening-surely it does remain in FGR's own hands ,as they still have chesterfield to play in the reverse fixture-so do better than chesterfield and Barnet ,and beat chesterfield-it is currently in FGR's own hands .I take such massive comfort in that as i take myself and my teddy to bed.

michael wrote:Unfortunately, i think you will be right in your last paragraph at 4.55 tomorrow night Tommo, but as of this evening-surely it does remain in FGR's own hands ,as they still have chesterfield to play in the reverse fixture-so do better than chesterfield and Barnet ,and beat chesterfield-it is currently in FGR's own hands .I take such massive comfort in that as i take myself and my teddy to bed.

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